The invention relates generally to sheet processing equipment, and more specifically to systems and methods for folding sheets, statements, and/or inserts prior to mailing.
Transactional printers, mail houses, and financial institutions such as credit card companies mail literally millions of documents within the United States each week. For example, credit card customers can expect to receive a monthly statement summarizing their charges for the prior month, or longer. The credit card companies, or other parties that prepare the mailings for them, are constantly on the lookout for improvements in efficiency, speed, and cost savings. Even incremental improvements in processing speed or efficiency can produce large benefits due to the huge number of mailings.
Sheet processing modules such as spiral folders are useful for processing continuous webs of paper, and are frequently an important component of mail processing systems. Yet currently used spiral folder systems and methods often suffer from significant operational drawbacks. For example, excessive sagging may occur in the center of the folded sheet stack between the spirals. This is particularly true when atypically thin or flexible material is processed in the module. Such sagging can cause the sheet to become misaligned in the sheet processing module, and can lead to paper jams, damaged forms, and the like. These failures can be costly, due to hours of machine downtime and lost operator time. To address these issues, some have suggested shortening the form length of the folded sheet, however such solutions can result in the beater assembly colliding with the chute assembly, again leading to misalignment of the sheet. Relatedly, others have proposed adjusting the beater assembly timing, but this can cause problems when different forms are loaded in the folder module. What is more, in some cases these solutions are not effective due to operator error in adjusting the form length setting or the beater timing.
In light of the above, it would be desirable to provide improved sheet processing systems and methods, particularly for processing components such as folding assemblies. The present invention addresses such needs.